Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 is a set of standards for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi) communication. A Task Group has been assigned to develop a standard for IEEE 802.11ai Fast Initial Link Set-up (FILS), which is referred to as IEEE 802.11 Task Group ai (TGai). IEEE 802.11ai FILS is intended to substantially reduce the time for a Wi-Fi station (STA) or handset (also commonly referred to as a mobile, a mobile station, a user, a terminal, a subscriber, and the like) to connect with a Wi-Fi access point (AP) (also commonly referred to as a base station, NodeB, enhanced NodeB, base terminal station, communications controller, and the like) by providing a media access control (MAC) layer protocol for fast authentication and association of a Wi-Fi handheld with a Wi-Fi access point.
In IEEE 802.11 Task Group ai (TGai), a need for Fast Initial Link Set-up (FILS) generally comes from an environment where mobile users are constantly entering and leaving the coverage area of an existing extended service set (ESS). Every time a station enters an ESS, the station performs an initial link set-up to establish WLAN connectivity. This generally requires efficient mechanisms that scale with a high number of users simultaneously entering the ESS, minimize the time spent within the initial link set-up phase, and securely provide initial authentication. The work scope of TGai may include improvements for access point/network discovery, secure authentication, and a mechanism to support concurrency in the exchange of higher layer protocol messages during the authentication phase.